Friendship in Cowboy Bebop

WARNING: This article contains ENDING SPOILERS!!

Despite the fact that every character in Cowboy Bebop has “issues” and expends a lot of effort acting as if they don’t care about their comrades (or in Ed’s case, simply living in her own world), friendship, both past and present, plays a very important part in the series.There’s an old saying that the more things change, the more they stay the same. In Spike’s case, despite all the changes he’d gone through, he remained pretty much the same guy — just transplanted into new surroundings. The picture on the left shows Spike following Vicious, presumably the leader, while Julia appears to be tagging along. None of them are close together, although they’re definitely a group. The same goes for the picture on the right, which shows Spike following Jet’s lead, and Faye pretty much tagging along. None of them are together, and yet they function as a group. The trio of Spike-Vicious-Julia gives way to the trio of Spike-Jet-Faye, and things don’t end any better the second time around.There are major differences, though. Spike is now shooting people under the auspices of the law, Faye isn’t sexually involved with either Spike or Jet, and Jet’s not a psycho killer. Still, the similarities between the two pictures are striking, even in the way the creative team used color. The first is blue and grainy, almost dreamy, while the second is sepia-toned, like an old photograph of good times that ended a long, long time ago.And that’s the heart of the show: how even a good thing can still lead to pain and disaster. There’s something sad in those scenes of Spike and Vicious together in the past, and it underscores one of the show’s major themes, which Watanabe once described as “things that cannot last.” Everything builds toward the final episodes, which simply repeat the past by breaking apart a trio and leaving a lot of death and trauma behind. Yes, Spike finds his peace, but the future of Faye and Jet is as open-ended and up for speculation as the past between Spike, Vicious, and Julia.The characters try to keep relationships casual and non-emotional, but even the bonds they consider ancient history are hard to break and emotion soon starts bubbling out everywhere. In CB, actions speak louder than words, and the many instances of one character guarding the other’s back is just shorthand for “I care.” Spike never has to come out and say he trusted Vicious with his life; the scene with them at each other’s back shows it. Spike doesn’t have to say he’s worried about his past harming Jet; it’s in his actions as he helps Jet in the aftermath of the Loser Bar fight. Same goes for Jet and Faye — and even Faye and Spike, since they help each other despite declarations to the contrary.

But the show wouldn’t have delivered its emotional impact if the characters had never opened up and talked about their feelings, either directly or indirectly, and showed they understood each other more deeply than they let on.One of the most emotional moments of the series for me came during the final confrontation between Faye and Spike. For the first (and last) time, Spike opens up to Faye, then leaves her in tears of anger, frustration, and grief. For much of the series, he’s laid back, distant, and sarcastic…so the moments when he lets his true self show are a stark contrast and very effective. You know something’s working the way it’s supposed to when just the look in the eyes of an animated character gets you choked up, or when they’re saying one thing and you know they mean the total opposite…

Naturally, these moments of honesty always lead to buckets of pain and angst. And since none of these characters like to admit they have feelings for each other, a lot of these conversations take place with characters facing away from each other…a reversal of the trust shown while guarding each other’s back. They’re okay with the physical gun buddy stuff, but the emotional stuff is harder. In effect they’re saying “I trust you not to let someone shoot me in the back, but I don’t trust you enough to let you see the feelings in my eyes.”

Relationships also develop out of chance encounters, and always have major consequences. What did Vicious see when he looked at Gren? Did he just see a gullible fool, or did he think, “He reminds me of Spike…all smiles and easy-going attitude, like you could trust him with your life. Or your lover…”There’s something working behind Vicious’ eyes in the scenes with Gren, but it’s hard to say exactly what. If you’re a Vicious fan, you might say it’s a twinge of regret. If you think Vicious is a creepy freak, you’re probably thinking it’s just disgust. Or boredom…

I’ve rambled on already about Faye’s chance encounter with Julia, which highlighted their similarities, and I’ve always thought Faye’s encounter with Gren was all about “what could have been.” Gren is a tragic character, and everything about his life on Callisto — his music, his apartment, his telling Faye that women didn’t interest him — adds to the somber, melancholy mood of the Jupiter Jazz episodes. He’s just waiting for the end to come, despite Faye’s attempts to stop him, and their confrontation closely mirrors that final scene between Faye and Spike.

Ed and Ein are two characters who give of themselves but ask for nothing in return (well, except for maybe souvenirs), and it’s no surprise they’re both innocents, have little or no past baggage, and no bad karma. Ed has to cope with her father’s abandonment, but she’s a resilient thing and in Ein she has a friend who probably understands her better than most people would. Of all the characters in CB, the ones I figured would end up okay included Ed, Ein, Andy, Meifa, and Alisa and Rhint (after he got out of jail) — Andy because he’s totally clueless, and Meifa, Alisa, and Rhint because they appear to have benefited from their mistakes or losses. Ed can be clueless and out of touch with the real world, but she also accepts change and moves on (something Spike, Faye, and Jet all have trouble with.)Pairing up an innocent, guileless child with characters as world-weary as Spike, Faye, and Jet provides for both funny and touching moments. Some of my favorite scenes from CB include Spike’s interactions with Ed. By turns, he’s bewildered, exasperated, and wary of her, but he also shows patience and understanding. He’s accepting of her oddities and the scene of Ed’s pinwheel taped to the deck of the Bebop says volumes about Spike’s (and Jet’s) feelings for the girl after she left. I was so glad that Ed left before Spike died because I just didn’t want to see her deal with such a loss (watching Jet and Faye deal with it was hard enough!) I’m also glad that Ed never came anywhere near Vicious…In the end, the weird little friendships that developed between the Bebop crew, and the brief and equally weird little relationships that developed between the Bebop crew and a few other characters, is what made this show so appealing and earned it a top “re-watchability” status among my anime DVD collection. Yeah, it has great music, is slick and stylish, has excellent fight scenes, Spike’s gun is cool and so is Vicious’ katana, but it’s the emotions of the three main characters (who tried to deny they felt anything at all) and the sense of “might have been” and “should have been” and “maybe could be” of their relationships (past and present) that always stays with me.

[by Michele].

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